Wireless technology continues to evolve, and with it so does the wide array of devices available in the marketplace. Further to emerging cellular handsets and Smartphones that have become integral to the lives of consumers, existing applications not traditionally equipped with any means to communicate are becoming wirelessly-enabled. For example, various industrial, commercial and/or residential systems may employ wireless communication for the purposes of monitoring, medical, reporting, control, etc.
As the application of wireless communication expands, the powering of wireless devices may become a concern. This concern falls mainly in the realm of mobile communication devices wherein the expanding applicability of wireless communication implies a corresponding increase in power consumption. One way, in which the power problem may be addressed is by increasing battery size and/or device efficiency. Development in both of these areas continues, but may be impeded by the desire to control wireless device size, cost, etc.
Another manner by which mobile wireless device power consumption may be addressed is by facilitating easier recharging of devices. In existing systems, battery-driven devices must be periodically coupled to another power source, e.g., grid power, solar power, fuel cell, and the like, for recharging. Typically this involves maintaining a recharger specific to the device being charged, and mechanically coupling the device to a charging cord for some period of time.
Developments in the area of recharging are being developed to replace this cumbersome process. For example, wireless charging may remove the requirement of having charging equipment corresponding to a particular device to be charged.
Wireless power transfer has the potential to transform electronics by “cutting the last cord,” freeing users from the need to plug in to recharge devices, and changing the design space, for example, by enabling devices with no connectors.
One Wireless Charging Technology (WCT) approach is to enable a single wireless power transmitter (WPT) to simultaneously charge multiple wireless power receivers (WPR's).
However, in order to implement such an approach in a reliable and efficient manner, the WPT should have the capability to detect the number of WPR's that are currently located within a charging area of the WPT, and to distinguish the WPR's from other devices that might be located in the charging area but are not WPR's.
One solution is to use Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication between the WPT and the WPR's. For example, each WPR could have a unique BLE name, and could continually use a BLE link to transmit data regarding the amount of power that it consumed.
However, the BLE communication may require establishing a communication link between the WPT and WPRs, which may increase power consumption, e.g., since the WPT may need to search for the WPRs, and/or may require a communication setup time to set up the BLE link.